Fans lodge complaints against Mizzou's chief of police after game
By Terry Rombeck, Staff Reporter

Wednesday, March 9, 2005

Four Kansas University fans thought they had spent their time and $35 at Kinko's on a special banner for an afternoon of taunting Tiger fans at Sunday's basketball game against the University of Missouri.

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Instead, they say, an argument over the sign ended with one fan in jail and another assaulted after an altercation with an MU fan who turned out to be Jack Watring, the chief of the Columbia campus' police department.

MU officials say they're investigating the incident, which even one Tiger diehard called outrageous.

Prior to the game, the KU fans say, they unfurled a 6-foot-long banner over the second-tier railing at Mizzou Arena. The banner had several names of Missouri's arenas crossed out, followed by the line: "Call it what you want, it'll always be Allen Fieldhouse East."

Littrell said the friends, who were sitting two rows above the railing, had permission from an usher to have the banner in place unless someone complained about it.

Kaufman said a man sitting below them later complained about the banner and asked to have it removed.

Kaufman said when the man -- who he later learned was Watring -- began taking the sign down, he told the chief he wanted to remove it himself because he planned to keep the sign. The two had a brief argument about who would keep the banner.

Thad Allender/Journal-World Photo

Chris Kaufman, left, claims he was assaulted by Jack Watring, chief of the MU Police Department, at the KU-MU game Sunday. Kaufman attended the game with two of his buddies, Andrew Wymore and Rich Littrell. The KU fans got into an argument with Watring over the sign below.

"Finally, he lets go of the poster, grabs my shirt and said, ‘Do you know who I am? I'm the police chief of the University of Missouri,'" Kaufman said. "I'm thinking in my head, ‘I don't really care who you are.'"

MU fan reacts

"It was totally inappropriate and totally out of line," said Barry Lewis, a former Missouri legislator and MU fan who watched the incident. "It was an overreaction to the situation. The kid was polite in every single way. There's no way kids should be roughed up and assaulted like that."

Lewis, who now lives in New Jersey and has a son attending MU, said he was concerned Kaufman would fall after being grabbed.

"The kid was startled, and I was afraid he was going over the railing," Lewis said.

An MU police officer appeared on the scene and the group went to the concourse to discuss the incident. Wymore said he was ejected from the arena by Watring after saying, "That's his property," in reference to the sign and Kaufman.

Wymore said an officer told him he could not re-enter the arena using the ticket he had in hand. He was later arrested for trespassing when he purchased another ticket and attempted to re-enter the arena.

He was taken to the Boone County Jail, where his friends later posted $500 bond to have him released. He's scheduled to appear in court March 16.

Kaufman said Watring also threatened to eject the other friends from the arena.

Complaints filed

"I'd describe it as an abuse of power," Kaufman said. "He assaulted me and verbally threatened us for no reason at all."

Kaufman and Lewis have since filed a police report with the MU Police Department and with Jackie Jones, the vice chancellor who oversees Watring. Kaufman said he also filed a complaint with Missouri Atty. Gen. Jay Nixon.

"I was embarrassed," Lewis said. "I felt bad for the college. It's a basketball game at a college, for God's sake. It's a hot game between two rival schools. If you don't want to see that, stay home."

Christian Basi, an MU spokesman, declined to discuss specifics of the incident or the investigation. Watring declined to comment on the case through Basi.

Fans lodge complaints against Mizzou's chief of police after game
By Terry Rombeck, Staff Reporter

Wednesday, March 9, 2005

Four Kansas University fans thought they had spent their time and $35 at Kinko's on a special banner for an afternoon of taunting Tiger fans at Sunday's basketball game against the University of Missouri.

advertisement

Instead, they say, an argument over the sign ended with one fan in jail and another assaulted after an altercation with an MU fan who turned out to be Jack Watring, the chief of the Columbia campus' police department.

MU officials say they're investigating the incident, which even one Tiger diehard called outrageous.

Prior to the game, the KU fans say, they unfurled a 6-foot-long banner over the second-tier railing at Mizzou Arena. The banner had several names of Missouri's arenas crossed out, followed by the line: "Call it what you want, it'll always be Allen Fieldhouse East."

Littrell said the friends, who were sitting two rows above the railing, had permission from an usher to have the banner in place unless someone complained about it.

Kaufman said a man sitting below them later complained about the banner and asked to have it removed.

Kaufman said when the man -- who he later learned was Watring -- began taking the sign down, he told the chief he wanted to remove it himself because he planned to keep the sign. The two had a brief argument about who would keep the banner.

Thad Allender/Journal-World Photo

Chris Kaufman, left, claims he was assaulted by Jack Watring, chief of the MU Police Department, at the KU-MU game Sunday. Kaufman attended the game with two of his buddies, Andrew Wymore and Rich Littrell. The KU fans got into an argument with Watring over the sign below.

"Finally, he lets go of the poster, grabs my shirt and said, ‘Do you know who I am? I'm the police chief of the University of Missouri,'" Kaufman said. "I'm thinking in my head, ‘I don't really care who you are.'"

MU fan reacts

"It was totally inappropriate and totally out of line," said Barry Lewis, a former Missouri legislator and MU fan who watched the incident. "It was an overreaction to the situation. The kid was polite in every single way. There's no way kids should be roughed up and assaulted like that."

Lewis, who now lives in New Jersey and has a son attending MU, said he was concerned Kaufman would fall after being grabbed.

"The kid was startled, and I was afraid he was going over the railing," Lewis said.

An MU police officer appeared on the scene and the group went to the concourse to discuss the incident. Wymore said he was ejected from the arena by Watring after saying, "That's his property," in reference to the sign and Kaufman.

Wymore said an officer told him he could not re-enter the arena using the ticket he had in hand. He was later arrested for trespassing when he purchased another ticket and attempted to re-enter the arena.

He was taken to the Boone County Jail, where his friends later posted $500 bond to have him released. He's scheduled to appear in court March 16.

Kaufman said Watring also threatened to eject the other friends from the arena.

Complaints filed

"I'd describe it as an abuse of power," Kaufman said. "He assaulted me and verbally threatened us for no reason at all."

Kaufman and Lewis have since filed a police report with the MU Police Department and with Jackie Jones, the vice chancellor who oversees Watring. Kaufman said he also filed a complaint with Missouri Atty. Gen. Jay Nixon.

"I was embarrassed," Lewis said. "I felt bad for the college. It's a basketball game at a college, for God's sake. It's a hot game between two rival schools. If you don't want to see that, stay home."

Christian Basi, an MU spokesman, declined to discuss specifics of the incident or the investigation. Watring declined to comment on the case through Basi.